Low-voltage magnetoelectric coupling in membrane heterostructures.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34767439.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abh2294 and PMC identifier 8589311.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in ferroelectric (FE)/ferromagnetic (FM) heterostructures offers a unique opportunity for both fundamental scientific research and low-power multifunctional devices. Relaxor-FEs, such as (1 − <i>x</i>)Pb(Mg<sub>1/3</sub>Nb<sub>2/3</sub>)O<sub>3</sub>-(<i>x</i>)PbTiO<sub>3</sub> (PMN-<i>x</i>PT), are ideal FE layer candidates because of their giant piezoelectricity. However, thin films of PMN-PT suffer from substrate clamping, which substantially reduces piezoelectric in-plane strains. Here, we demonstrate low-voltage ME coupling in an all-thin-film heterostructure that uses the anisotropic strains induced by the (011) orientation of PMN-PT. We completely remove PMN-PT films from their substrate and couple with FM Ni overlayers to create membrane PMN-PT/Ni heterostructures showing 90° Ni magnetization rotation with 3 V PMN-PT bias, much less than the bulk PMN-PT ~100-V requirement. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and phase-field simulations clarify the membrane response. These results provide a crucial step toward understanding the microstructural behavior of PMN-PT thin films for use in piezo-driven ME heterostructures.